""We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves...
He enables us to match calamity with serenity". 
~Bill W. Big Book pg. 68

Today is the first day of May, Spring is well under way and the Summer heat will soon be upon us. In a time when we are looking forward to our hard earned vacations and perhaps not so much to the long school-free days of parenting, there are plans to do and to go and to see and to play etc... we want to go swim, to party, to sit late on the stoop, in the yard, down the shore.Ohhhhhh the lazy hazy lets go crazy days of summer are soon to be upon us, but there are no vacations in recovery. What's an addict to do? Same old my friend, we must stay true to the fundamentals, keep on top of the basics, we live out our three fold recovery, One Day At A Time. We make meetings, we stay connected to our sponsors, our like-minded friends (that sounds so much better than a support group doesn't it...I hate that phrase). If we are blessed enough to take a trip we enjoy it, we take our reading materials, we concentrate on our prayer life, we organize a roster and include a meeting list. If we have before us a stay at home summer we keep a tight schedule, we stay focused on the things that are important, we make time for all three areas of growth, physical, mental and spiritual. Lets prepare ourselves properly so that at the end of the summer we wont be saying "I don't know what happened...I just picked up".

In the last week I have been made aware of 8 recent deaths, ranging from a 20 yr old suffering a brain hemorrhage or a 22 yr old's drunken driving fatality to a long-time sober friend who finally ended his battle with cancer and a 90 year old woman who lived a faith-filled life and did her best by her family and friends, and her God throughout her life. Our lives are a gift, the time we spend on earth is limited, that is one of the few guarantees I can give you, as sure as you came into this world you WILL be leaving it too. So what is the motivation behind our next breath, the purpose for being? Are we not called to love one another and to be loved by one another? Does this God really love us and if so can we ever really get close to the mystery of His love?  Faith is the key, a mystery to be lived not a problem to be solved. Take a chance, what have you got to lose? It might be that by applying the principles of a faith in a Higher Power that has an eternal plan for you and I personally that the daily running of our lives will gradually and dramatically change. We begin by humbly accepting our powerlessness and work towards surrendering our self-will over to the care of One who knows better what we need. We believe that He will reveal His plan to us through the workings of a dynamic relationship that must be built on prayer. With that as our foundation we listen to Him in reflective moments of silence, in the music of our day, in the movies we watch the people we hang with, the blossoms on the tree, the words we read etc etc we can hear and see and smell and feel Gods will for us in all things, the more we look and listen etc the more clearly we will understand what and how and where, and perhaps even why He calls us ....to love!!!!  But be careful what you listen to and watch and read etc...there are many powers out there that are greater than me or you, define your understanding of love, define your understanding of spirit(uality), of God/Higher Power and be true to your definition. If a man claims to love God and hate his brother he is a liar!

This Father of Light that Bill talks of, was for him, a real person, a God who loved him. The Father who loves, gives His all for His children, and out of love for Him the children should want to do the same for the Father. Lets put God at the center of our lives, like the hub of a wheel. We are afforded many spokes to keep that wheel moving forward smoothly, for some of us the spokes may include familial relationships, sponsorial relationships, prayer life, meetings, church/synagogue/mosque, commitments towards others, for others they may include, the telephone, the internet, AA literature, whatever you need to keep your wheel moving smoothly this summer, maintain and nurture your recovery, your quality of sobriety, by paying the price for your self-centered past and humbly surrendering to The Father who presides over us all. No matter how long you have been in recovery or working a program there is always room for growth maybe this day could be yet another Brand New Day, and a time to begin again, may we never grow tired of beginning again, "It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make a beginning".  I trust that by turning to The Father of Light as Bill sees it, we might grow more deeply in His image and likeness over the course of these forthcoming hot Summer months and look forward to an ever greater quality of sobriety, of life that benefits all who He might allow into our lives, pray, hope, don't worry and have a blessed Summer!,  gez.